Toyota Recalling Nearly 1.3 Million Vehicles to Fix Airbags, Wipers

TOKYO–Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will recall almost 1.3 million vehicles worldwide, most of which were sold in the U.S., for defective airbags and windshield wipers.

The massive recall comes just two days after Toyota officially reclaimed the title of world’s largest auto maker in 2012, something it won for the first time five years ago but was forced to relinquish due in part to a series of vehicle defects.

A total of 907,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles made in 2003 and 2004 have potentially faulty airbags that may inadvertently deploy, according to a Toyota spokesman in Tokyo. Another 385,000 Lexus IS sedans made from 2006 to 2012 have possibly defective wipers which “could become inoperative,” the spokesman said.

Of those, the majority involve vehicles sold in the U.S.–some 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix models and 270,000 Lexus IS cars–Toyota said in a statement.

The company is aware of 59 reports of problems with inadvertently deployed Corolla airbags, including 31 “abrasion-type” injuries and two accidents whose cause has not been determined, the spokesman said. There have been no reports of accidents or injuries involving the problematic windshield wipers, he said.

The airbag issue involves vehicles made at a now-closed Toyota plant in Fremont, California, the company said.

In November, Toyota said it would recall 2.77 million vehicles globally to fix flawed shafts and water-pumps in at least 12 models made between 2000 and 2011. That followed a 7.4 million vehicle recall in October due to faulty power-window switches, including 2.5 million cars and light trucks sold in the U.S., in models sold between 2005 and 2010.

Comments (2 of 2)

The good thing about recalls is that it "usually" happens before something goes awful becomes public. Too bad for Boeing that their batteries burnt during an actual flight. Fortunately, nothing bad happened.

5:55 pm January 30, 2013

Mike wrote :

Boeing gets 1000s of articles, but another 1 million toyotas recalled doesn't make the front page.